On the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a key ruling protecting gun rights from Hawaii lawmakers, their Virginia colleagues suffered their own setback at the hands of a lower court on Thursday.
Lancaster County Circuit Judge John Martin granted a preliminary injunction against the “assault firearm” ban, and the specifics are encouraging. Instead of a narrow ruling in Crump v. Katz, the injunction is immediately in effect statewide pending further judicial rulings.
While Virginia will seek emergency relief from an appellate court, the ban on popular semi-automatic firearms, scheduled to take effect July 1, is on hold until December 31, 2026.
State officials ignored their own Constitution in banning popular weapons
Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s (D) drive to catch up with California and others in suppressing gun rights may yet succeed, but Second Amendment advocates are fighting her actions tooth and nail.
In the two-hour hearing, the plaintiffs argued that the Virginia Constitution upholds the inalienable right to keep and bear arms, just as the Second Amendment does.
“Article 1, Section 13 is the commonwealth’s recognition of a pre-existing right with which Virginians were endowed by their Creator, and it operates as a fixed limitation on the power of government to enact legislation affecting firearms,” the plaintiffs declared.
Virginia’s gun rights battleground provides mixed results
Far from being unusual, the targeted weapons are owned by millions of law-abiding Americans who use them for everything from self-defense to sport shooting.
“They are not just common, they are ubiquitous,” attorney David Browne told the court on behalf of the plaintiffs. “The challenged statutes in this case concern some of the most commonly used arms and magazines in the nation.”
It’s not all good news from Virginia. The injunction against background checks for private gun sales, issued last year, will be dissolved on July 1, thanks to a Lynchburg Circuit Court judge.
The Virginia State Police, without further judicial action, will conduct background checks on firearm transactions between individuals.
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